Overview

Pros

Cons

Poor quality screen

Bad camera

Quick Take

If you can live with a marginal screen, the E FUN Nextbook 8 is a cheap way to browse the Web, play a few games, and read the news.

Boasting a quad-core processor and 1 GB of RAM for a retail price of $99, the Nextbook 8 from E FUN is the latest in a long string of Android tablets trying to attract buyers through extreme cheapness. Is it worth it even at that price? We take a look.

Before digging in too far with this review though, it has to be said that E FUN had previously produced a very similar 8-inch tablet, and the company unhelpfully failed to name the two models differently. The 2014 version of the Nextbook 8 we reviewed here features a quad-core processor, and a suggested retail price of $99 in partnership with Walmart. Older Nextbook tablets can also be found online, but if it’s not a quad-core and doesn’t have 1 GB of RAM, it’s not what we reviewed here. To be really sure, we’re talking about model #NX785QC8G.

Build and Design

Overall, I would summarize the N8’s design as “I’m trying to find more and more creative ways to describe a grey plastic rectangle.” It’s very generic, but it seems to be built reasonably well. The casing is all plastic, but with no play in it, and it won’t smudge.

Display

E FUN Nextbook 8 (2014) Homescreen

If you’re looking at the Nextbook 8 and feel something about the screen looks a little “off,” it’s because the display is squarer than most. While most Android tablets use a 16:9 widescreen-style ratio, the Nextbook has a 4:3 ratio – the same as the Apple iPad. Put simply, it’s shaped more like a sheet of paper than an HDTV.

Also despite the name, the Nextbook’s screen is a little under 8 inches: 7.85, to be more accurate. However, because it’s wider, that still leaves it with more screen area than 8-inch tablets with widescreen displays.

When it comes to the actual quality of the screen, though, I’m afraid there’s no two ways about it: It’s just not very good. The 1024 x 768 resolution is acceptable for the cost and size, but the viewing angles are terrible. Even looking at the display head on, you can see a lot of contrasting effects from one edge of the screen to the other. It’s less pronounced on a bright background, so web browsing and reading aren’t really affected, but watching any kind of video, especially anything dark, is probably a waste of time.

On top of that, the N8’s display is incredibly reflective. I’ve seen a lot of very glossy displays, but the N8’s is so mirror-perfect I feel like I could shave with it, if only I didn’t wear a beard. Normally I don’t feel the need to get screen protectors for devices anymore, but for this one I would definitely want an anti-glare film on it, because the reflection gets pretty annoying.

Other Buttons and Ports

E Fun Nextbook 8 Side View

Almost everything on the N8 is top-mounted: microSD card slot, headphone jack, micro-USB port, microphone, power button, and even a micro-HDMI port, which is always nice to see. With as much edge space as tablets have, I wish more of them would bother with the little things like this. It’s not a big deal, but it’s convenient, especially when you want to set something up at the spur of the moment.

Moving along, the only thing not found on the top of the device are the volume keys, which are just around the right hand corner on the side.

The one-and-only speaker is on the back corner, where I’m afraid it’ll be easily covered by a hand, but that’s a problem many tablets have.

We’re just getting started — Page 2 covers the performance of the Nextbook 8.

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dumago
November 7, 2014 at 3:32 am

How can i moved games to SD Card?

jjisbeast
January 30, 2015 at 12:53 am

this tablet sucks so much it wont even turn on for me, it is the worst tablet ever made.

shellyaw76
March 16, 2015 at 7:38 am

This Tablet is absolutely horrible very bad quality..The volume on this is by far the worst I’ve ever seen. It’s too low my 5yr old was very disappointed and that’s sad! I wouldn’t waste my money on this product!

AmyReitsema
June 19, 2015 at 11:41 pm

Terrible tablet. Bought it from Walmart, it lasted 24 days before it just wouldn’t charge. Company sent me a new charger which took 4 weeks to arrive. The charger wasn’t the problem so then I called back and they sent me an email as to how to return the tablet at my cost of $20 and they sent me a new one. This again took 2 weeks. Now 3 weeks later, the replacement tablet will not charge or even turn on. The company has offered to send me yet another replacement tablet after I return the faulty tablet to them. All I want is my money back so I can buy a real tablet that isn’t going to have problems.

missVee
August 3, 2015 at 10:52 pm

I have to agree with the other comments…the tablet does suck. I can’t even find where to update the tablet futhermorr this is the second tablet i bought for my daughter…the first just went completely blank and would turn on which was an xmas present that only lasted for 3mths. The second one would charge at all and third one, what a waste of time when you download a game it comes up error or insufficent space when we know theres space on the unit and SD card.

thardin
August 4, 2015 at 12:17 am

This was sent to me as a replacement for my Samsung Galaxy tab lite. I hate it. I have had it for 3 weeks it will only hold a charge for about two hours. It shuts itself off randomly even if it is fully charged and is slow as hell. I AM NOT HAPPY!!! I should have just gotten my money back. DO NOT GET THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Old12612
May 24, 2016 at 1:52 pm

I totally missed with everyone this is the worst tablet ever and to top it off Next book won’t stand behind their products probably because they know the tablet is terrible. Had to return mine because it wouldn’t turn back on. They sent me a replacement after costing me $20.00 to return their junk and now I have a tablet that is powered ONLY by electric if you take it off the charger it dies. I called Next book to get a replacement and was told I couldn’t get another one because I had already returned the original and it was past the 1 year purchase date. By the way the first tablet was returned to Walmart 3 days after purchase because you couldn’t even touch it it was too sensitive. Now I have one of the first electric tablets on the market. I was told to take the third replacement tablet to a repair shop at my expense because it was probably in internal problem….ya think? Don’t waste your money get more expensive tablet from a reputable company that will stand behind their products and make every reasonable effort to keep their customers coming back. Stay was from Nextbook!!!!!